Sanctuary
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Penwith Visit
Sep 07, 2012, 11:31
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Wow, what a few days I've had in Penwith. I had to come home a day early though because my collie Chief did a leg in leaping over the Men-an-Tol steps/stile on the way in!!
The weather was brilliant with the exception of Tuesday which was shrouded in thick fog/mist for most of the morning then early evening again. DON'T try finding Zennor Quoit when you can't see your own hand in front of your face as you could virtually end up anywhere in a sea of tightly packed gorse and fern!!
Fieldnotes to follow of course but I visited all but one of the sites on my wish list this time around and another I decided to leave for another time.
In no particular order I visited Boscawen-un stone circle; Zennor Quoit; Lanyon Quoit; Mulfra Quoit; Men-an-Tol; Merry Maidens; Tregiffian Burial Chamber; The Pipers; Carn Euny and Chysauster, just missing out on Chun Quoit because of Chief's injury and Boleigh Fogou.
Too much to go into here but my real highlights were Zennor and very much to my surprise, Carn Euny as I'm not an IA person, but was completely blown away by the fogou on site which is of course from an earlier period. If you've never seen it then put it right up there on your own wish list.
Questions to ask later.
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Mustard
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Re: Penwith Visit
Sep 07, 2012, 11:52
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What did you make of Chysauster? I really loved it up there. Windswept, but so atmospheric!
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bladup
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Re: Penwith Visit
Sep 07, 2012, 11:58
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Mustard wrote: What did you make of Chysauster? I really loved it up there. Windswept, but so atmospheric!
Glad you had a good time, sorry to hear about your dog though, i hope chief is on the mend.
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Sanctuary
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Re: Penwith Visit
Sep 07, 2012, 12:22
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Mustard wrote: What did you make of Chysauster? I really loved it up there. Windswept, but so atmospheric!
Well to be honest I didn't appreciate it as much as I did Carn Euny. As I'd said previously, the IA doesnt do a lot for me, but I went to CE because of the fogou and I guess that spoilt it for me. It was immediately after visiting CE that I went to Chysauster but the appeal for me was not there sadly. I don't know why you have to pay to visit Chysauster because CE has more to offer for free! The main thing though is that you enjoyed it and I leart a lot more so we are both winners.
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Sanctuary
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Re: Penwith Visit
Sep 07, 2012, 12:29
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bladup wrote: Mustard wrote: What did you make of Chysauster? I really loved it up there. Windswept, but so atmospheric!
Glad you had a good time, sorry to hear about your dog though, i hope chief is on the mend.
Yes he is, thanks for asking. I had two dogs with me and Chief being the natural leader just had to show-off and jump the Men-an-Tol steps/stile first. Unfortunately dogs, like horses, assume what they see in front of them is all there is to a jump, so that when they see more behind it comes as a bit of a shock to them. Chief jumped and came down on the steps on the far side and turned a front leg over which effectively ended the next port of call Clun Quoit via Chun Castle.
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bladup
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Re: Penwith Visit
Sep 07, 2012, 12:56
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Sanctuary wrote: Mustard wrote: What did you make of Chysauster? I really loved it up there. Windswept, but so atmospheric!
Well to be honest I didn't appreciate it as much as I did Carn Euny. As I'd said previously, the IA doesnt do a lot for me, but I went to CE because of the fogou and I guess that spoilt it for me. It was immediately after visiting CE that I went to Chysauster but the appeal for me was not there sadly. I don't know why you have to pay to visit Chysauster because CE has more to offer for free! The main thing though is that you enjoyed it and I leart a lot more so we are both winners.
That's one thing about living near Chysauster, you can go in the back way when every bodies gone and watch the sun set for free, but the feeling of carn euny beats it hands down, i think it's mad that at the pay site the fogou is not restored and fenced off and at carn euny it's free and the fogou is brilliantly restored, you'd think they'd at least use some of the money they get at Chysauster to restore the fogou there, for this reason alone the place is a let down.
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bladup
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Re: Penwith Visit
Sep 07, 2012, 12:57
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Sanctuary wrote: bladup wrote: Mustard wrote: What did you make of Chysauster? I really loved it up there. Windswept, but so atmospheric!
Glad you had a good time, sorry to hear about your dog though, i hope chief is on the mend.
Yes he is, thanks for asking. I had two dogs with me and Chief being the natural leader just had to show-off and jump the Men-an-Tol steps/stile first. Unfortunately dogs, like horses, assume what they see in front of them is all there is to a jump, so that when they see more behind it comes as a bit of a shock to them. Chief jumped and came down on the steps on the far side and turned a front leg over which effectively ended the next port of call Clun Quoit via Chun Castle.
Glad to hear that!
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thesweetcheat
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Re: Penwith Visit
Sep 07, 2012, 19:50
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Sanctuary wrote: ....Carn Euny as I'm not an IA person, but was completely blown away by the fogou on site which is of course from an earlier period.
Hi Roy,
Glad you had such a great trip, and lots left for return visits! Speedy recovery for Chief hopefully.
I was interested in this part of your post. What makes you say the fogou is earlier than the village?
tsc
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Sanctuary
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Re: Penwith Visit
Sep 07, 2012, 20:26
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thesweetcheat wrote: Sanctuary wrote: ....Carn Euny as I'm not an IA person, but was completely blown away by the fogou on site which is of course from an earlier period.
Hi Roy,
Glad you had such a great trip, and lots left for return visits! Speedy recovery for Chief hopefully.
I was interested in this part of your post. What makes you say the fogou is earlier than the village?
tsc
Hi TSC, thanks for your best wishes for Chief.
Before leaving for Penwith I got interested in visiting a fogou and picked up on this which says the fogou predates Carn Euny settlement. I had in my mind that they were late Neolithic but most people seem a bit sketchy over the dating.
http://www.cornishancientsites.com/Carn%20Euny.pdf
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thesweetcheat
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Re: Penwith Visit
Sep 07, 2012, 20:47
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I think fogous are all considered to be IA as far as I know. They might predate the settlement (especially a courtyard house settlement, which is pretty much heading towards Romano-British dating), but not by a great amount of time.
Ian Cooke has written a terrific book about fogous, if they've grabbed your attention.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mother-Sun-Cornish-Ian-Cooke/dp/0951237160
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